The Game Beat

On Ethics, Friendship, and Crowdfunding

So, heard any good discussions of game journalism ethics recently? Me neither. I’ve heard plenty of discussions, mind you… just not many good ones. So I thought I’d dust off my old Ombudsman hat and try to fix that. To start, let me be clear that I’m trying my best to disentangle this ethical discussion […]

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Burying the Lede

Burying the Lede

Burying the Lede is a (hopefully) daily collection of interesting, mostly game-journalism-related links I’ve come across that don’t require a full post but that I still wanted to share. I know other journalists (and even outlet mascots) have been in games before, and it hasn’t been the end of the world, but this kind of […]

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Burying the Lede

Burying the Lede

Maybe “weekly (hopefully)” would have been more accurate? Well lookie who has the sixth biggest magazine in America. Circulation has more than doubled since 2005, when it was 26th. Amazing what prominent placement in 5,000 game stores can do. As a briefly-visiting Yank, I feel unqualified to comment on the British Game Media Award nominations. […]

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Uncategorized

Embargoes, visualized

Unfortunately this shot doesn’t capture the timestamps for these entries, but by my RSS reader’s count that’s 18 posts from 11 sources, all bubbling up within minutes of each other (and I probably could have found more). “Blanket coverage” seems insufficient.

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Burying the Lede

Burying the Lede

Emphasis on the “(hopefully)” Rock Paper Shotgun saw fit to take down this review of the Official WoW Magazine (explanation for why here), but I still found it interesting. So will you, perhaps? I’ll have more on Game Theory soon, I hope, but for now just read their generalize take on what game journalism can do better. I […]

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Burying the Lede

Burying the Lede

I’m so pissed I missed the screening text adventure documentary GET LAMP at PAX East, but luckily now I can buy it. And so can you! I don’t know if it’s a good sign or a bad sign for games’ widespread acceptance that WCG Ultimate Gamer is starting a second season on SyFy soon. But it’s […]

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Burying the Lede

Burying the Lede

Dumping out my bookmarks folder before heading off to a weekend in York. I’m mentioned briefly in this four–part series on the state of game journalism, written by a guy just getting into the business. He seems very eager to learn, and also very perceptive. Rare responds to the MundoRare fansite closing (mentioned here) with […]

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Uncategorized

How game publishers Captivate journalists with junkets

Editor’s Note: This article was originally commissioned by a major video game news outlet, then killed upon receipt because an editor thought it would “cause too many problems.” I present it here as it was presented to them. This April, a group of a few dozen game journalists flew off to a beautiful Hawaiian resort for a […]

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Burying the Lede

Burying the Lede

Whoops, forgot to post this yesterday. Here’s an extra-long edition to make up for it. IGN takes a page from Giant Bomb’s playbook — and it’s a pretty smart page to take! Destructoid’s Nick Chester discusses why our job inevitably leads to owning a ton of night shirts that you can never wear in public. Presenting […]

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Uncategorized

Who’s really hurt by Starcraft II’s review-free launch?

As I begin writing this, Starcraft II has been out for over a day and has exactly one review listed on GameRankings. This is practically unprecedented for a major, modern video game release. Mass Effect 2 had 27 online reviews listed on GameRankings by its Jan. 26 release date. Curious Super Mario Galaxy 2 shoppers had […]

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